U.S. Unprepared for Disaster, Study Finds

December 6, 2005 Reuters

Hospitals are not prepared to handle the patients who would arrive after a disaster or a pandemic, most states have few plans in place for coping and the federal government has not taken charge of such preparation, according to a report released on Tuesday.
Although President George W. Bush released an influenza pandemic plan with great fanfare last month, and even though federal health experts have been issuing dire warnings for years, little has actually been done to get the nation ready, according to the Trust for America's Health, or TFAH.